Europa League action returns to the White Hart Lane as Tottenham Hotspur host Fiorentina in the first leg of the last-32 tie. The two teams go head-to-head on Thursday with an aim to gain an advantage to take to the second leg of the tie.
Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that there are no injuries whatsoever in the Tottenham camp. The manager announced that everyone is fit and available for selection and that has given him a lot of choice ahead of deciding which 11 players he will field against Fiorentina.
Pochettino said: a Everyone is fit a this is important a and now I must pick the players for Thursday night,a said Mauricio after training on Wednesday.
a Ita s difficult for me to select the squad but thata s a good problem to have.a
The fact that Tottenham has everyone at their disposal to select the starting 11 on Thursday makes it difficult to predict who will play. While Pochettino will want to field a strong line-up that will ensure a win on Thursday, he will also be thinking of the upcoming fixtures and thinking of resting one or two key players. Spurs have a tightly packed schedule in the coming weeks. After Thursdaya s tie, Tottenham will host West Ham in the Premier League, and then travel to Italy for the return leg against Fiorentina and will finally face Chelsea in the Capital One Cup final on the 1st of March. Considering the importance of the upcoming games and their tight schedule, Pochettino will surely be resting some of his key players.
However, we can expect Eriksen and Harry Kane to be the first names in the starting line-up. Both are on a good run of form and Pochettino will be relying on the duo to create and score goals and help them win.
Fiorentina, meanwhile might be without Ciprian Tatarusanu. According to fiorentina.it, Tatarusanu has skipped two training sessions over the last few days due to a back problem. If the keeper does not fully recover in time, Fiorentina manager Montella might have to field Norberto Neto against Tottenham. If Neto, who could leave the club as a free agent in July, starts against Tottenham, it will be his first appearance since 21st of December.
Expected to be in the starting line-up for Fiorentina are Chelsea winger Mohamed Salah, who arrived on loan at the club after Cuadrado went the other direction, and former Bayern Munich striker Mario Gomez.
